Wellcome Trust funds first Pathfinder projects
The Wellcome Trust announced the first two projects to be funded under its Pathfinder Awards Scheme, which aims to build on or establish a partnership between academia or not-for-profits and a company to develop treatments for Orphan and neglected diseases. In the first project, Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) and researchers at University College London will develop a pluripotent human stem cell line that can be used to study neurodegeneration with iron accumulation (NBIA), a neurological disorder with symptoms that include tremors, sustained muscle contractions and a decline in brain function.
In the second project, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and researchers at the Structural Genomics Consortium at the University of Oxford will investigate methods to restore normal metabolism and prevent progression of homocystinuria, a hereditary metabolic disorder. ...